Drug overdose is one of the leading causes of accidental death in the United States in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic by causing between 40,000 and 50,000 deaths a year. In 2015, approximately two million Americans had a substance abused disorder involving prescription pain relievers and about six hundred thousand Americans were addicted to heroin. Many of the heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers.
What is needed is a non-addictive pain killer that can be used to treat opiate dependency, opiate withdrawal, and treat post-surgical and chronic pain that would eliminate these deaths.